Show Notes 6 September 2024
Story 1: The next world’s tallest building could be a 3,000-feet-high battery
Source: CNN Story by Amy Gunia
Link: https://www.cnn.com/style/skyscraper-batteries-som-energy-vault-spc/index.html
- Note – this news is a few months old but I wanted to share as it is reflective of a growing interest in gravity batteries.
- First, we need to set the stage with a tutorial reminder about “gravity batteries” – Gravity batteries are an innovative type of energy storage device that harnesses gravitational potential energy. Here’s a simple breakdown of how they work:
- When there’s excess energy from renewable sources like solar or wind, it’s used to lift a heavy mass (such as water or solid weights) to a higher elevation.
- When energy is needed, the mass is allowed to fall, converting its potential energy back into electrical energy through generators.
Sources:
- Gravity battery – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_battery
- What Are Gravity Batteries, and How Do They Work? https://www.howtogeek.com/839512/what-are-gravity-batteries-and-how-do-they-work/
- What Are Gravity Batteries and How Do they Work? https://www.solarkobo.com/post/gravity-batteries
- Here’s the news – At the end of May, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the architecture and engineering firm behind some of the world’s tallest buildings, announced a partnership with the energy storage company Energy Vault to develop new gravity energy storage solutions.
- That includes a design for a skyscraper that would use a motor powered by [excess] electricity from the grid to elevate giant blocks when energy demand is low. These blocks would store the electricity as “potential” energy. When there is demand, the blocks would be lowered, releasing the energy [to drive generators], which would be converted into electricity.
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Energy Vault’s [proposed] superstructure tower, which could range from 300 to 1,000 meters (985 to 3,300 feet) in height, would have hollowed out structures resembling elevator shafts for moving the blocks, leaving room for residential and commercial tenants.
- (The firms are also looking at integrating pumped storage hydropower into skyscrapers, using water instead of blocks).
- Ultimately, multi-gigawatts-hours of [potential] energy could be stored, which is enough to power several buildings.
- When it comes to gravity-energy storage structures, the taller the better. A very tall gravity energy storage structure could offset its embodied carbon — from construction and materials — within two to four years.
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Energy Vault are now looking for development partners to turn their designs into reality.
Story 2: Japan Introduces Magnetic Levitation Car Technology
Source: ElectricTechnology.org
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klegk2dZmmg I recommend starting the video at the 4-minute mark – previous is tutorials on maglev.
- Japan has introduced a groundbreaking innovation in the automotive industry: magnetic levitation car technology.
- This new technology developed by the Quantum Machines Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology could potentially eliminate the need for traditional engines and batteries in vehicles.
- Magnetic levitation, often referred to as maglev, is a technology that allows an object to float above a surface without any physical contact, using magnetic fields to counteract gravitational forces.
- This technology allows cars to hover a few centimeters above specially designed tracks. By eliminating friction, maglev cars can achieve much higher energy efficiency compared to conventional vehicles.
- The team’s research has focused on utilizing diamagnetic materials and powerful magnets to create a stable levitation effect, similar to that used in maglev trains but with significantly reduced energy consumption.
- Side note – Diamagnetic materials are substances that create an induced magnetic field in the opposite direction when exposed to an external magnetic field, causing them to be repelled by the magnetic field.
- Unlike traditional maglev systems, which require continuous power input, the new technology developed by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology team only needs energy during the initial startup phase to generate the magnetic field. Once levitation is achieved, the cars can move with minimal energy input, making the system highly efficient.
- Key Benefits of the Technology
- Elimination of Engines and Batteries: One of the most revolutionary aspects of this technology is its ability to eliminate the need for engines and batteries in cars. This change could significantly reduce the weight of vehicles. It could also lower manufacturing costs. Additionally, it would decrease the environmental impact related to battery production and disposal.
- Increased Energy Efficiency: This technology improves the energy efficiency of vehicles by removing the need for continuous energy input. Without friction between the car and the track, less energy is needed to maintain motion. This results in lower operational costs and reduced carbon emissions.
- Sustainability and Environmental Impact: The shift to a maglev-based transportation system supports global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also helps combat climate change. These vehicles do not require internal combustion engines or large battery packs. As a result, they offer a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to traditional cars.
- Reality Check – Despite its promise, the technology is not without challenges.
- Researchers are currently working on minimizing kinetic energy losses at the surface level and improving vortex damping to ensure stable and smooth operation.
- Additionally, the infrastructure required for maglev cars—such as specially designed tracks—will require significant investment and development.
- Optional side note – Vortex damping refers to the reduction of vibrations caused by vortex shedding, which occurs when fluid flows past a bluff body, such as a cylinder. When the fluid flow separates from the surface of the body, it creates alternating low-pressure vortices on either side, leading to oscillatory forces perpendicular to the flow direction. These oscillations can induce vibrations in the structure, known as vortex-induced vibrations (VIV).
- Vortex damping mechanisms are designed to mitigate these vibrations by dissipating the energy generated by the oscillations. This can be achieved through various methods, such as adding structural damping materials, using tuned mass dampers, or altering the shape of the structure to disrupt the formation of vortices.
- Sources:
- Vortex-induced vibration – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex-induced_vibration
- Vortex-induced vibration forever even with high structural damping. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mechanics/article/vortexinduced-vibration-forever-even-with-high-structural-damping/4F38AC6BBFD6F700D5978C91D2B83470
- Damping: Definition, Types, and Formula – Science Facts. https://www.sciencefacts.net/damping.html
- 15.2: Viscous Damped Free Vibrations – Engineering LibreTexts. https://eng.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Mechanical_Engineering/Mechanics_Map_%28Moore_et_al.%29/15%3A_Vibrations_with_One_Degree_of_Freedom/15.2%3A_Viscous_Damped_Free_Vibrations
Story 3: NASA’s solar sail successfully spreads its wings in space
Source: Space.com Story by Meredith Garofalo
Link: https://www.space.com/nasa-solar-sail-deployment
See also: https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-next-generation-solar-sail-boom-technology-ready-for-launch/
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYLnbw7iu8
- More than four months after launching into space [earlier this year], a solar-sailing spacecraft has successfully spread its wings above our planet.
- NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System caught a ride to space on April 24 on Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle and, on August 29, NASA shared in a release that its mission operators verified the technology reached full deployment in space.
- The location of the spacecraft in its orbit is roughly two times the altitude of the International Space Station. If you were looking at the sail from above, it would look like a square that measures nearly half the size of a tennis court at approximately 860 square feet (80 square meters).
- How it works:
- Solar sails use the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, angling toward or away from the Sun so that photons bounce off the reflective sail to push a spacecraft.
- This eliminates heavy propulsion systems and could enable longer duration and lower-cost missions.
- The solar sail’s mission:
- Because the sails use the power of the Sun, they can provide constant thrust to support missions that require unique vantage points, such as those that seek to understand our Sun and its impact on Earth.
- Solar sails have long been a desired capability for missions that could carry early warning systems for monitoring solar weather. Solar storms and coronal mass ejections can cause considerable damage on Earth, overloading power grids, disrupting radio communications, and affecting aircraft and spacecraft.
- The first of the high-resolution imagery is expected to be accessible on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
- Update – as of September 4 the following is being reported – However, subsequent observations of the spacecraft show it is “tumbling or wobbling” through space, which may have also impacted its trajectory around our planet.
Story 4: Building new bones with help from 3D printing
Source: MedicalXpress.com Story by University of Waterloo
Link: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-bones-3d.html
See also: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbm.a.37719
- A research team from the University of Waterloo in Canada has developed a new material that shares many of the same traits as bone tissue. Using it in 3D printers provides a new and innovative treatment option for patients undergoing major skeletal repair and reconstructive surgery.
- Surgical reconstruction in these cases currently involves metal implants and donated bone. Surgeons request a specific size and type from tissue banks to best match their patient’s anatomy, but it’s rarely a perfect fit. A recipient’s body may also reject donated bone.
- To solve these problems the University of Waterloo team created a new biopolymer nanocomposite material that can be 3D-printed into a customized bone graft engineered to meet a patient’s unique needs.
- It may also eliminate the need for metal plates, reduce the risk of infection, and increase the chance that the patient’s body will successfully accept the graft.
- The lead researcher noted, “We’ve created a material that is strong, 3D-printable and compatible with the potential to become new bone tissue. With this technology, we can achieve the patient-specific geometry needed to reconstruct bone defects with greater success.”
- The material combines nanoparticles that mimic the composition of bone minerals and help strengthen the material.
- Ultimately, the team hopes bone cells will grow and replace biopolymer nanocomposite with new bone. The body will then excrete the biopolymer nanocomposite.
Honorable Mentions:
Story: Scientists recover almost 99% of pure silver from dead solar cells
Source: InterestingEngineering.com Story by Ameya Paleja
Link: https://interestingengineering.com/energy/silver-recovery-spent-solar-panels
- A combination technique comprising hydrometallurgy and electrochemical deposition developed by researchers at the University of Camerino in Italy has boosted the recovery rate of silver from spent solar cells to 98.7 percent. Compared to conventional approaches, this approach is also environmentally friendly.
- Commercially deployed solar cells use significant amounts of important metals such as aluminum, steel, copper, zinc, and silver. While aluminum and steel are usually used for racks and support systems and are easy to recover, copper and silver are much more difficult to recover as part of solar cells’ electrical circuits.
- Since metals can be separated, molten, and reused with much less energy than in mining operations, it is much more economical to recover them from products without utility.
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Story: ‘Origami-inspired’ folding electrodes could reduce surgery needed to treat brain conditions
Source: University of Oxford
- A research team led by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge have created new ‘origami-inspired’ brain electrodes that can fold up to a fraction of their full size. This advance could significantly reduce the amount of surgery needed to treat conditions such as epilepsy, or to install brain-computer interfaces.
- The new study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrated that using a folding design for brain electrodes could reduce the incision area needed by about five times, without affecting functionality.
- Senior author Associate Professor Christopher Proctor (Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford) said: ‘This study presents a new approach to directly interfacing with large areas of the brain through a key-hole like surgery. The potential significance of this work is two-fold. First, there is the promise of a less invasive diagnostic tool for epilepsy patients. Second, we envision the minimally invasive nature will enable new applications in brain machine interfaces.’
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Story: ‘Printable’ perovskite solar cells achieve 26% efficiency, 20-year lifespan
Source: Interesting Engineering via MSN.com Story by Abhishek Bhardwaj
- Researchers have developed a new generation of printable perovskite solar cells that can offer higher efficiency and stability, lower cost and scalability, and a minimal carbon footprint.
- The new generation perovskite cells have been developed by the team of researchers from the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).
- According to a press release by the CityUHK, the new generation perovskite solar cell developed by the researchers has achieved power conversion efficiency of over 26% in laboratory testing.
- The team was also able to address the common stability issues by demonstrating perovskite solar cells with an estimated lifetime of over 20 years through accelerated aging tests, which is comparable to that of silicon-based cells in the market.
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Story: Scientists develop breakthrough method for extracting water from lunar soil
Source: TechSpot.com Story by Skye Jacobs
- In a groundbreaking development, Chinese scientists have unveiled a novel technique for extracting water from lunar soil, opening new possibilities for the future human habitation on the Moon. This approach not only promises to provide a sustainable water source for astronauts but also challenges long-held beliefs about the Moon’s arid nature.